Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ForeverSg1]

Dude... I know I'm an idiot, but why the HECK can't I post a pic? I mean, I don't plan on posting ALL of these pics EVERY DAY or anything, but I can't even post one!

Push the little button that looks like a picture of a mountain and sun. It says insert image when you move your cursor over it. Then enter the address and file name of the image you want to add.

example
http://www.mypictures.com/smilingsam.jpg

remove [img] [/img] if it's surrounding the address.

Then hit 'ok' and it should add the picture.

At least that's how it works for me. Where are you storing your images?
That may be part of your issue.

Kat

[Uber]

Thanks for the Blue, UberSG-1Fan.

Tis my pleasure...

[ForeverSg1]

Okay - here's another NAME THAT EP/NAME THAT SCENE picture:

Episode

Spoiler:

The Other Guys

Scene

Spoiler:

The Gou'ald cell right after SG-1 has been captured
Not positive but something about asking Jonas why he isn't
smiling since it's his first time on a Gou'ald ship? or being
captured...something like that.

[majorsal]

spoilers for s7's chimera

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Yeah, I have to admit I was a bit shocked with the up-against-the-wall scene in Chimera as well. Normally I wouldn't really be bothered by it as I've seen worse on other television shows. But here in Dallas, Stargate is shown at 7PM which is a prime-time family spot. Both of my kids, now 4yr girl and 14yr old boy, normally watch the show with me and I can tell you when that scene came on both my 14yr old and I were extremely shocked and a bit embarrassed.

i'd spent a great deal of time in fandom before chimera aired to know exactly how i 'didn't' want to come off (hypocrite). i hated chimera (that's a strong word, and i mean it totally). it crushed me as a shipper and irritated me as a sam fan, and i think to this day, i haven't totally gotten over it. but to stick to the above scene... that scene bothered me more than any scene i've ever watched in stargate's history. did it offend me? no. that first half of the ep showed me everything i'd always dreamed about for sam and jack. hand holding, kissing, romance, turned-on reactions, cute chit-chat, lying in bed together, and passion (that scene). speaking 'just' as a shipper; if I were to say i was offended by that scene, *i'd* be a hypocrite and a liar. you know when you're upset about something, you criticize and nit-pick it to death. but it wasn't that i was offened by all those sam/pete scenes, it was that i totally wanted it for sam and jack. i guess what i'm trying to say is that for 'this' shipper, i wanted all that romance for my preferred couple. and that's how i saw all those scenes, as pure romance. but for the women here that have small children, i can understand your concerns. (i still want to see that type of romance, though, for sam and jack )

More than anything I would have preferred a little advance warning with my kid. Maybe if I had read spoilers beforehand and been prepared for what to expect it wouldn't have seemed so inappropriate, but I've never had to worry about such a thing with Stargate before.

i was *immensely* bothered by the content/violence in season 6's abyss. i remember being in a chatroom with brad wright, and i asked him personally if the violence was bad in that ep. i might not have small children of my own, but i have a retarded/autistic brother you reacts *very* strongly to violence, so i was afraid he'd freak and start having a fit. brad said it wasn't bad, and my brother didn't freak, but i NEVER will watch that ep again *super hugs jack*.

Not only was this Sam's first relationship in over eight years, but it was obviously her first time with Pete: I just think Sam deserved something with a bit more class.

i liked it, just not with 'him'. but again, i don't have children to worry about. i also have no morals, so maybe that's why i like those scenes. (the no morals thing is a joke... really.... REALLY)

That said, I truly believe that her little adventurer on the Prometheus left her with much bigger issues than a concussion and hallucinations. I don't know if it was a mid-life crisis or just a chemical imbalance, but Sam really started to change a great deal after this episode: increased insecurities, judgement call issues, ect. It's almost as if wasn't the same Sam who came back from the Prometheus. Hmm...maybe those unnamed aliens did something with our Sam?

that really made me stop and think. i guess the increased insecurities came from her 'new' situation with having a boyfriend that not only was pushing their relationship from the get-go, but having that war with her moving in a direction that was taking her away from who she really wanted that direction to be going with. i found all her insecurities making sense. i kinda wonder, though, that if jack hadn't been a factor, she might have handled those insecurities better. or, she might not have struggled with them/had them at all. i think the 'jack factor' added a LOT of layers to her mind.

we've been having some awesome discussions here, so thank you, everyone, for being so open-minded.


sally

[Agent_Dark]

Nice idea...however someone posed it to JM and he said quite specifically...




And thus ends the BSG SG-1 crossover speculation.

Well I was thinking of a fanfic...nothing stopping those!

[binkpmmc]

we've been having some awesome discussions here, so thank you, everyone, for being so open-minded. sally

Thank YOU Sally for starting it so we could join it.

[ForeverSg1]

You'll need to upload your pic somewhere on the web first. Try Imageshack or Photobucket or anyother webspace you might have

Then simply enclose the url for the pic in the [img] [/img] tags

Hmmm ok now maybe someone can clarify this for me. I was always told
to remove the [img] [/img] because it slowed things down. Can we get a mod in here to tell me if I've been farking things up?? Where is Skydiver when you need her.

*whistles innocently*
Kat

[Uber]

Episode

Spoiler:

The Other Guys

Scene

Spoiler:

The Gou'ald cell right after SG-1 has been captured
Not positive but something about asking Jonas why he isn't
smiling since it's his first time on a Gou'ald ship? or being
captured...something like that.

Way to go Kat!

[Carterslave]

[QUOTE=ForeverSg1]The writers may add a voice to Sam, but it's AT who adds emotion. I think AT was bothered by the one dimensional aspect of Sam in first few episodes of the show and pushed to have more depth added to the character over the past eight years. Amanda herself is the one who wanted to see a more personal side of Sam shown and who wanted to show Sam as fallible.

In Singularity we saw Sam soften and show a bit of emotion…AT was allowed to really get into the part and I think she did a brilliant job. [color=black]

I know this is very hard for hard-core fans to grasp because we fall in love with characters and we want them to stay eternally the same

regardless if you agree with the things she does or not… you are still here. You are still watching. Whether you have a smile on your face, or you are jumping up and down, yelling and screaming at the television, you are watching…because you care. And in the end…that’s all the writers are trying to do… to get you to watch ... if they didn’t take the risks throughout the years, Sam would still be the same uninspiring character she was in COTG. So I for one am very happy for what they have given me.

To begin at the end, I wasn't uninspired by the Carter of COTG. Quite the contrary. Your whole argument, ForeverSg1 rests on the presumption that S1-3 Sam was a limited character who left considerable room for improvement. While I agree you about S6, which left much to be desired on every front (sorry, Jonas fans), my feeling about S7-8 is that TPTB have taken a great character & f***ed her up. Or, as I said before, dumbassified & domesticated her. The early Carter didn't have to apologize for herself. Now she does it constantly. You'd think her confidence would have grown, not atrophied.
One need not want a favorite character to "stay eternally the same" to be unhappy with the way the development of said character is handled. The problem is not that Carter has evolved but that she seems often to have devolved.
To put it differently, the choices made seem to have been the worst possible. I like the instincts that AT displays on the DVD commentaries (envisioning Sam as "a loser" who lives in an underfurnished, hole-in-the-wall apartment), but the character has been not fleshed out so much as conventionalized. Ho-hum. AT says she re-upped for S7 b/c it meant she'd get a directing slot. If so, it was a Faustian bargain and Pete was Satan's end of the deal. I mean, this extraordinary woman is going to settle for (and forget Jack O'Neill with) the biggest doofus in Colorado ... or maybe on Planet Earth. It's somebody's fantasy I guess, but it's another symptom of dumbed-down DomestiCarter. Bleah!
Also, it's one thing for Carter to be fallible, quite another to make her a congenital screw-up, which seems to be the pattern of behavior clear through Gemini. At least the last few episodes showed an improving character trajectory (and the long-overdue jettisoning of the Pete Fiasco), so there's hope that Sam can regain the piratical swagger of old in S9.
Much of what ForeverSg1 writes is passionate, forceful and eloquent—not unlike Sam herself. I certainly agree with what you write about Singularity, one of my 6 or 7 favorite episodes. But ... there's a fair amount of what sounds to these ears like 'TPTB must know what they're doing' rationalization and I can't buy that. If they're getting me to watch but making me feel like a schmuck for doing so or for having been emotionally invested in the show, they may be "doing their job," but I'd say they're failing the audience. Anyway, the hard-core fans have reason to feel taken for granted of late, but I'm glad to see they're not taking it lying down.

[Uber]

NAME THAT EP and SCENE!

By the way, are these presenting a challenge to ANYBODY?!???

[ForeverSg1]

i was *immensely* bothered by the content/violence in season 6's abyss. i remember being in a chatroom with brad wright, and i asked him personally if the violence was bad in that ep. i might not have small children of my own, but i have a retarded/autistic brother you reacts *very* strongly to violence, so i was afraid he'd freak and start having a fit. brad said it wasn't bad, and my brother didn't freak, but i NEVER will watch that ep again *super hugs jack*.
sally

Yeah...overall Stargate is a pretty safe show to watch with kids of all ages.
There are some episodes that I just won't allow my four year old to watch.
Not because there is alot of blood or people dying, but simply because there is just too much action going on and she gets overwhelmed by it. I learned early on that children pick up on things even when we don't think they are even paying attention.

Lockdown

Spoiler:

One example...Friday night I was watching Lockdown and my daughter walked in playing with one of her dolls. During the scene where Anubis takes over Sam's body and zats the guard in the corridor, my daughter started pacing back in forth in front of the television. Then when Jack zatted Sam she just stared at the tv and kept asking questions...

"Mommy is Carter good or bad?"
"Mommy why did Jack shoot Carter? Doesn't he like her anymore?"
"Mommy is Carter dead or sleeping?
Is she sleeping? Mommy is Carter sleeping?"

She refuses to watch any episode with a Gou'ald in it. She's frightened by the glowing eyes and strange voices. She always asks before an episode if there are any bad guys in it. Luckily there are lots of episodes to choose from and we can avoid the heavier episodes.

Kat

[Skydiver]

NAME THAT EP and SCENE!

By the way, are these presenting a challenge to ANYBODY?!???

it's 'into the fire' where sam blows the charges on the generator

as to the img tags, well what i just did was wrong, what you're supposed to do is certainly use them for the original pic, then cut the [img] tags out of the quote so we don't keep getting the same pic 20 times over as folks quote and quote

[Uber]

it's 'into the fire' where sam blows the charges on the generator

as to the img tags, well what i just did was wrong, what you're supposed to do is certainly use them for the original pic, then cut the [img] tags out of the quote so we don't keep getting the same pic 20 times over as folks quote and quote

Well, this is just distressing...that took all of 5 minutes for someone to answer.

Okay folks...you've forced me into it! I will have to resort to using significantly VAGUER images...Just TRY and get them!!!

Muahahaaahaaaa!!!!

[chocdoc]

i do think that they are being cagey about sam's return for two reasons, soem of it might still be being written, and also, with rda mostly gone, well sam/amanda's fans really are a large contingent of the audience. be a person a sam fan, shipper, femslasher....sam and amanda is immensely popular an only really disliked by a small percentage of the viewers. IMHO, they have to handle her return well. they have to avoid any semblane of 'you're picking on her character because the actress dared to inconvenience you by getting pregnant'

Wow! It took a long time to catch up, reading such a wonderful and thoughtful discussion of Sam!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with Skydiver's sentiments above. One thing that is very clear from the thoughtful posts here and at some other forums, a very substantial number of fans really care about the character of Sam. Sam and AT are immensely popular. This is true whether one thinks the writers have made some major mistakes over the past two seasons, whether one thinks they have made mistakes and are mildy bothered, or whether one has actually enjoyed the storylines for Sam in the last two seasons. (And regardless of where one stands on this, AT has had the opportunity to show off her incredible acting range in the last two seasons, particularly compared to Seasons 5 and 6).

For me, AstroG's comments hit home----there hasn't been a balance for Sam in the last two seasons between Sam's exploration into some less travelled parts of her psyche and the Sam's kickass military scientist persona we all love. I did not mind the personal exploration actually, but this could have been balanced with Sam actually LEADING in season eight as well. And also as AstroG pointed out, the last two seasons lacked the balance between Sam's explorations and role in the scifi end of the show, compared to the three male leads. A great point.

But I still think there continues to be a double standard in how we perceive the female lead and the three male leads. The male characters get away with alot more (in terms of having feelings/relationships, making mistakes, their lack of feelings as well etc) than Sam, in my opinion. And if Sam seems at all "too feminine", she is accused of being "too girly." I have to admit, I hate that expression, as if girly is a derogatory word. But I digress.

My least favorite moments for Sam (I think I only have four, whereas I have countless favorite moments )

1) Fragile Balance---please, no way would the pilots be at all disrespectful to Major Carter---that was just poor writing, in this case poor writing from a male writer point of view. These pilots would know how often she saved the day, how brilliant she is, and how much experience she has had offworld. They should have been in awe! Here, the writers forgot to heed AT's words--just write my character as a person, not a female.

2) Chimera---crazy how she dealt with Pete's childish behavior---why oh why didn't they pick a boyfriend that made sense to the scifi aspect of the show!! Nice to see Sam being a little lighter, but because Pete was written so poorly to me, seeing this side of Sam was ruined. And I agree with others---did not need or want to see the bedroom scene. But the scenes between Daniel and Vala in Prometheus Unbound, mixing violence and sexual remarks, was way worse for me!!

3) Affinity---no way would Sam accept Pete's proposal while still doubting what was going on inside her, but also particularly not at a stakeout, as AT also protested.

4) Lost City I and II, Affinity, and Threads---I got quite tired of Sam trying to talk with Jack about her feelings---Sam looks worse than the male lead and again this was written from a male biased point of view. I do think Jack has feelings for her as expressed in Threads later, but why is she the one that has to look awkward and insecure. AHHHHHHHHH

There were remedies though to some of these---telling Pete it won't work out BEFORE she knew that Kerry broke it off with Jack---and interaction between Sam and Jack that was not awkward, such as their interaction concerning her father, the fishing scene, and really the whole beginning of Meobius as well.

Season nine provides a beautiful opportunity to bring Carter back into balance. No pete, a chance for more natural interaction with Jack if RDA makes guest appearance later in the season, a mission far far away for professional reasons, and a large fan base that posts their heartfelt sentiments about the development of Carter's character as it is so far, and where it should go. Woohoo!!

[Strix varia]

AT likes the idea of Sam riding motorcycles... and didn't we have a quoted (or linked to) post where she said that she'd jumped out of plane (parachuted) before she'd completely read all of the things that she's 'not supposed to do' because of the insurance coverage?

I don't remember seeing this? Details?

Last night I was thinking about how they *have* given Sam more 'shortcomings' in the past couple of seasons...Now some folks like this, some are OK with this and some folks don't like this. And, they have sort of 'taken-away' her special abilities from Jolinar (first by showing them not working as she tried to heal Daniel, and then by simply not referring to them since). So, over the past couple of seasons, Sam has 'become more human' and less of the invincible series hero.

At the same time, Teal'c got his mojo back and is now one of the main leaders of all Jaffa. Daniel has died and come back - twice... and is now sort of 'part Ascended'... able to tap into his Ascended memories when the writers want to (he did it with Teal'c when he accessed the memories about Ry'ac and Bra'tac and he did it with regards to the Lost City and he did it when battling Replicarter). And Jack was established as an 'advanced human' in Fragile Balance, he 'went Ancient' again in Lost City (and went even further this time, exhibiting healing abilities) and now he 'has the Ancient gene' and can activate Ancient technology.

So... for the past couple of seasons, the three guys have all advanced in their grand scifi heroic capabilities. And this was at the same time that Sam's character was sort-of 'normalized' so that she's not one of the super-heroes in quite the same way.

Wow, you know, I hadn't looked at it like that, but you're absolutely right. Very insightful, Astrog.

Also, I keep trying to give you jello, but I keeping being told I need to "spread it around." Grrrrr... Never before have I had the urge to start random jello fights, but, by golly, it's becoming a daily occurrence. Thanks for posting all the season summaries!